Water is essential for us, but what’s the bet you’re not drinking enough? I know I definitely don’t, but I try to as hard as I can. For a couple of months now, I’ve been consistently hitting my goal of 2L / per day (excluding teas, etc) and so, coming from someone who was lucky to drink a glass a day, I thought I would impart my (not so great) wisdom onto you all. We all know the benefits of more water; more energy, better skin, overall health, etc etc, so this is an important one! Enjoy!

Water BottlesConsidering the hype about health, there are always new water bottle fashions. Voss was one, then we all had to have that flat A5 water bottle, then a metal eco bottle…
Get a water bottle that you like. I know I never promote buying something as a good way to start a habit you’d like to make consistent, but this one does work. I have a couple of different water bottles that I use, but I always make sure I know EXACTLY how much water they hold so I can track how much I’m drinking. I mainly use a cheap plastic water bottle that’s 1L from the supermarket, and keep refilling it until it falls apart. I aim to get through two of these a day.

Task Measure
Drink every time you have a task – every time you check your phone, open an email/text, a new scene plays on TV, you watch a new youtube video – whatever. Even set it as on the hour every hour, you have to take a drink. This can be a sip or more, but set that habit for yourself to just keep going. This is what builds the habit.

Apps/Trackers
If you need to, use apps on your phone to track how much water you’re drinking. I tend to remember (two of the same bottle is pretty easy) and mark off in my bullet journal at the end of the day if I reached my goal or not, and at work I used to make little check boxes for each 500mL bottle I went through. There are heaps of ways to track water intake, just go through them till you find the one that works for you.

Flavouring
If you hate the taste of water, flavour it with fruits or even cordial if you must. Just get it into you, and figure the logistics of it out later. Flavoured water is better than none at all.

Challenge Yourself
It might be useful to challenge yourself if you’re competitive (or even a friend), by doing a week or two where you have to drink a certain amount of water per day. Challenging/games are very effective tools! Treat yourself at the end of it to a brand new water bottle, or maybe just an ice cream.

Deadlines

Give yourself deadlines – for example, if you’re really struggling, try to get down 500mL in half an hour. We manage to get water down before some types of ultrasounds, blood tests, etc, so it’s possible. Use that.

When we have days where our skin isn’t looking the best, it can be so easy to want to load on the foundation and hide away from the world. Doing this, however, tends to worsen the breakouts and prolong their life span. Also, the last thing you want when you’ve got spots is to spend an hour looking at yourself in the mirror. So, I’ve developed a fast makeup routine for my bad skin days that makes me feel more confident but also helps my skin breathe a bit. It’s very simple, and all it does is even my face out a bit and help my confidence. I’m not trying to cover anything up, as spots are normal and if anyone thinks otherwise, they’re not living in the real world.

So, let’s get started!

After applying my usual skincare (updated skincare routine coming soon!), I use a combination of primers. One is the Elf blemish control primer to help my skin recover, but I will also use a pore filling primer to help even out the bumpiness of my skin.

Because I like to let my skin breathe, I use a CC cream, then concealer. If my breakouts are really bad I’ll use a green concealer first, but I’ll just dab a bit onto the back of my hand then press it onto the spot with my finger. I don’t go too heavy as you can see, I don’t really mind that you can still see I’ve got spots – everyone gets them. All I’m doing here is trying to make them appear a bit more calm while also helping them heal on their own.

I like to use a good quality powder on days like these that’s quite finely milled, as it sits nicer and makes all that concealer last longer. For bronzer, I will only use a matte as to not emphasise any texture, and for blush I like one with a sheen to it so I don’t have to apply highlighter for the same reason.

I’ll then fill in my eyebrows, throw some eyeliner in my tightline and load on the mascara – nothing fancy, just a basic look. I choose to have nothing on my lips except lip balm for two reasons:
a) I never really wear lipstick anyway
b) a lot of my breakouts are hormonal on my chin, so I don’t want anything near them to aggravate them. You can’t really tell in the images, but I have a split lip as well, so lipstick wouldn’t have worked even if my skin was clear!

Here you can see the before and after’s for yourself – there’s nothing fancy going on here, no heavy coverage or cake face. All I want to do when I’ve got some spots is not wear makeup and cover my face in spot cream, but I’ve got to go to work and therefore look somewhat presentable. So, unless I have a huge event on, I’ll stick to my theme of letting my skin breathe, while also eating well and drinking a lot of water.

Don’t forget your hair can also play an important part. Although it might be scary to tie your hair up when your skin is looking bad (we tend to hide behind our hair), if it isn’t the cleanest you might want to consider doing so to not antagonize your skin! Luckily in these photos I’d washed my hair the night before, so I was fine to leave it down – but it’s definitely something to consider!

*Disclaimer: I know that my skin isn’t the worst out there! I am lucky with relatively clear skin and I work hard at eating right, drinking enough water and using a good skincare routine to keep it that way. However, I still get the odd period where my skin says ‘fuck that’ and decides to ruin it all for me, and this is how I cope with it. Not trying to say you need to cover up any imperfections or that my skin is the worst there is*

I’m such a big fan of meal prepping – they not only save money and time, but they also give you no option to eat like shit. I’m going to be sharing with you my favourite meal prep recipes! They keep well (I do 5x portions at a time for storage) and taste great in my opinion, whilst also being good for you. Bone app the teeth!

Yesterday I found myself craving something super sweet, but I’m trying to cut back on my sugar intake. After some searching, I found this great recipe from I Quit Sugar, and made my own adjustments to it. Happy baking!

-preheat oven to 180C
-grease and line a baking tray
-whisk wet ingredients together
-add dry ingredients and mic
-add in any extras
-bake for 20 mins (keep checking on it)
-let it cool, cut up and enjoy 🙂

I am not a fitness nut, I’m telling you that now. I genuinely do not like exercise at all. But, I do recognise the importance of it, and I feel much better and look much better for it. So, after trying for almost a year to perfect it, here is my exercise routine that works for me.

TIP: I like to mix up my workout outfits to keep me interested. Occasionally I work out in sneakers, but more often than not I just wear socks or go barefoot. Mat is from Cotton On Body.
My outfits are:
Left: Nike sports bra, kmart leggings. MIDDLE: Forever 21 sports bra, Cotton On Body joggers, Nike Roches. RIGHT: Kmart t-shirt & sports bra underneath, Forever 21 shorts

DISCLAIMER: Bear in mind, I also eat a reasonably healthy diet with lots of veges and not much meat or dairy when I can avoid it. I am also naturally slim. I’m not telling anyone that they need to exercise, this is just what I like to do 🙂

Every week I write up a plan of when I’m going to fit in working out. I workout from home and hate doing it in the mornings, so it tends to be after work at night or through the day if I can fit it in. I have learnt recently that if I break up the days into target sections instead of whole body workouts, I get much less sore and am much more motivated to do it. I also add to this plan a word of inspiration (for me this week, I want to look good in a bikini when I go to Thailand), and keep a track of how many weeks I’ve completed this plan. Studies show it takes about 8 weeks to see visible results, so that’s one of the reasons I keep note of when I stay on track.

When I can, I love going for walks around the park or with my dogs when I visit my mum. I think being outside in the sunshine does wonders. If I can, I like bigger walks too. I recently did the Bondi to Coogee walk in Sydney and it was full on, but I really loved it (though my calves killed for four days after lol).

I also love some Yoga. I follow the Down Dog app or Madeline Shaw’s yoga programs, of which my favourite is her stress yoga.

After some kinetic stretches, I roll out my mat, blast some music and start one of these workouts.

BUM & THIGHS

-250 squats (100 of these wide leg)
-50 x each leg side leg raises
-30 x each leg lunges
-30 x leg raises
-30 x push bum up things? Idk what they’re called, but you lie on your back with your legs up and push your hips up
-30 x each leg kicks on all fours
-30 x each leg backwards raises

I love reading night routines, so I thought I’d share mine with some pretty photos! Hope you enjoy!

I usually get home from work around 8pm. The first thing I try to do is put everything away & take my makeup off. At the moment I’m using the Rosehip micellar water but I tend to buy whatever’s cheapest.

I’ll then make myself some dinner. Considering I get back so late, I usually like to make a big batch of something earlier in the week for me to eat every night, something like a big pasta bake, stirfry or risotto that I can heat up and is full of veg.

After this, I’ll do my exercise if I haven’t done it during the day. For me, that’s usually just a circuit of things like squats, mountain climbers, cycle crunches and burpees – stuff like that. I won’t normally go for longer than 20 minutes. There’s something really therapeutic about working out at night, so if you struggle in the mornings, you might like this way. It really helps me get out my stress, tiredness and resentment from the day.

I’ll then shower and do my skincare routine. You can read all about that here, though these days I tend to use the NUXE oil and a konjac sponge to wash my face.

After I’m all clean and cosy, I make myself a tea and get to work doing assignments, readings or whatever I need to do. If, by some miracle, I have nothing to do, I’ll work on a blog post of watch an ep of a TV show. I’m one of those people who binge watches TV shows, but I’m slowly getting through Mad Men (I know, I know, I’m so late on the bandwagon), so I have something to watch.

If I’m going to be working for a long time, I’ll make myself a peppermint tea, but if it’s just a bit (half an hour or so) I’ll make a cammomile. I love cammomile tea before bed as I do really find it relaxes me.

During this time, I’ll figure out what I need to do the next day. I love lists, so I just jot down everything I need to get done. I feel this way I go to sleep a lot less anxious about how busy I am.

It’s then time for me to brush my teeth, and do some stretching. It’s now that I’ll say goodnight to my roommate and close my door – basically within half an hour of sleeping. I’ll do a yoga session using downdog, or simply just stretch myself out on my mat.

If I’m feeling it, I’ll light a candle. I’ll always finish the texts I need to text and put my phone away, and read a book for a while, just to give my eyes a break. I’ve recently been using the app ‘Twilight’ that filters out the blue light, and I’ve found this helps. Still, I’m a mad reader, so I use this time to catch up. I’ll also use some hand cream and lipbalm.

When I’ve finished reading and am starting to get really sleepy, I’ll fill in my Thankful Journal that helps remind me of all the good things I have. I try to meditate a couple of times a week, and I always use the app Smiling Mind. I highly recommend you try it if you’re thinking about meditating, it is super easy to follow and I genuinely think it works. I just realised how sponsored that sounded… trust me, it’s not! (I’m not that popular on here lol)